In many diesel engine platforms, or configurations, it is desirable, or necessary, to specifically orient a given cylinder's fuel injector to accommodate the positioning of the fuel line inlet connection, to position the injector's fuel spray orifices to obtain a desired fuel disbursement pattern within the cylinder, or to properly position an electrical connection.
It is known in the industry to employ mechanical means to obtain such fuel injector orientation such as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,343,798, issued to Karl Senfit, wherein mating indexes are used to properly position the fuel injector within the cylinder.
In an engine manufacturing facility producing engines having various engine configurations, or platforms, it is common to use a given fuel injector type for all engines. However, because of the differing engine platforms often having different fuel injector packaging requirements, such as the location of the fuel supply plumbing relative to the fuel injector, it is necessary to correctly position the fuel injector in accord with the particular engine's platform. For example, the fuel injector's fuel inlet may require a differing injector orientation for each of the various engine platforms being manufactured. With the teachings of Senfit, a distinct injector configuration, and respective part number, would be necessary for each engine platform and possibly for each individual cylinder of a given cylinder head resulting in numerous injector configurations and part numbers.